Vayikra: The Chofetz Chaim and the Destitute Sinner

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual dr. This week we have the incredible privilege to begin and really delve into the beautiful intricacies, the holy intricacies of sacrificial law of carbonos. And I want to draw your attention to a specific a specific offering. In parake 5 verse 11, the beginning of the seventh al the Torah speaks about the if a person committed an so depending on the type of there are different types of so without getting into these specifics Torah discusses over here what happens if there is a sinner who is supposed to bring an offering of turtle doves or pigeons but is unable to do so. So the Torah goes ahead and says such an individual could bring a a meal offering. If the sinner is unable to bring the bird offering, two two turtle doves or two pigeons, he shall bring an offering for his sin, a serious sol. You shall bring an a tenth of an apha of soles of fine flour as a as a sin offering. You don't put oil on it. You don't put lava on it for it is a sin offering. And in fact, this is very exciting for us for many of us who are learning because this is what we call in the sinner's offering. And again, we've spent a lot of time on this. It's a meal offering that comes from fine flour. There's no additional oil, no additional leavona, frankincense. Rather, it's just flour. So, this is an individual supposed to bring a sin offering can't afford to bring a normative one. The Torah gives him the concept of the sinner's the sinner's meal offering. That's and there are many incredible things to contemplate in this particular offering. First of all points out something so beautiful. The says quote you. He says the Torah you see has incredible compassion even for the poor person. Ultimately every Jew should be able to achieve atonement. There should never be any barrier to atonement. Even though he can't bring a sheep, he can't bring the two birds. Ultimately, again, he is able to go ahead and bring even this offering. So, first of all, point something beautiful. There's no barrier to there's no barrier to atonement. There's no barrier to forgiveness. Now, obviously, here the Torah is speaking about a financial barrier. So, there's no financial barrier. There's no financial limitations to achieving atonement. But it's not just finances. Is giving us just a tremendous and overwhelming and beautiful lesson, which is there's no barrier to atonement. There's no barrier to forgiveness. If you're willing to go ahead and work for it, if you're willing to do whatever it demands to achieve forgiveness, it is accessible and attainable for all of us. So whether you have financial obstacles, you're rich, you're poor, whether you have emotional obstacles, theological, spiritual obstacles, whatever the obstacles are, there is no barrier to atonement. And is that not the most incredible message? Because so often after we sin, we feel like such profoundly damaged goods. We feel so tarnished. We feel so broken. And sometimes we feel that we are simply beyond repair. And we feel like there are all of these obstacles, all of these ceilings, all of these hurdles for atonement. And so often we could fall into the clutches of despair and feel I'm unredeemable comes and teaches us who says to us if you cannot afford the normative carbon for atonement don't worry here's an alternative mechanism and what's true for money is it true for emotion is true for spirituality it's true for everything else if you have barriers you have obstacles who says I want you back wants all of us back he wants wants all of us to return. He wants all of us to become bal and there is no barrier to entry. Not financial, not anything else. If the yid, if the Jew wants atonement, wants forgiveness, wants a fresh start, wants a new beginning, who says it's within reach. You just have to have the courage to grab it. You have to have the courage to take it. You have to have the courage ultimately to initiate. But if a yid, if a Jew wants to, the Jew wants forgiveness, nothing will ever stand in your way. And then the goes on and he says something incredibly profound. He says he quotes the 28A says something very interesting. What happens if a rich man goes ahead and brings a poor man's carbon? So a rich man committed an a so let's say he was supposed to bring a sheep or he was supposed to bring bird offerings whatever it was and instead he brings this he brings the sinner's m which is simply flour fine flour no oil no leavona nothing a simple poor man's carbon what's the in such a situation so the gimar says he has not fulfilled his obligation furthermore now he's not fulfilled his obligation he has brought means you've offered up unconsecrated items within the sanctity of the bdash a very severe transgression if done intentionally punishable by death unintentionally also has its own liability. So not only if the po if the rich man if the usher brings the poor man's sin offering bring the poor man's mah not only has he not fulfilled his obligation but it's as if he has not it's as if he has brought unconsecrated items ultimately again into the bd and the says what do you see from here that demands one thing and one thing only which is that we become the best version of ourselves the rich man can't bring the car poor man's offering. Why? Because that's the rich man acting like the poor man. Well, the rich man is not the poor man. The rich man's rich, the poor man is poor. And for the rich man to conduct himself like anyone other than who he is is a betrayal of his personalistic spiritual identity. Who says you want excellence in life, you want greatness in life, you want accomplishment, you need to be you. And you have one simple aod. You become the best version of you. Prophet is teaching us something so incredibly profound and beautiful. Teaching us, you know, we go through life and often whether we do this consciously, subconsciously. Often when we have like this image of the ideal me, the ideal me often aspires to be like someone else. I want to be like this person. I want to be like that person. And we do this in many areas of our life. We may do it in our careers. We may do it in our spirituality. We may do it in our marriage, in our parenting. I want to be like this person. I I wish I could be more like them. So besides the fact that you never really know what happens with people behind closed doors or who they really are or what they really are, that's not what wants of us. It is of course good in life to have role models to have people who you look up to and say, "Wow, that person really possesses certain midos, certain attributes, character traits, abilities that I would love to inculcate within myself." But at the end of the day, there's one central avoda in life. Be the best you. Self-actualization means looking at who and what I am and how do I become the best version of me. Not to become someone else. Not to be someone else, but to be me. All too often in life, we're trying to become like other people. We're trying to fit into other people's mold. We're trying to remake ourselves in someone else's image. Meanwhile, says, "I don't need that. I remember created me. He created you." So what? There's like a manufacturers's error that I need to become like you and you need to become like me. No says I created each of you as individuals and because I created your individual mold. I have one divine dream and aspiration and that's for you to be the best version of you. Look inward introspect. How do you develop you? I don't want you to become like someone else. If you wanted you to be like Ru, like Shim, like Leo, then I would have made you like those people. But the fact that I made you in a specific mold, that's you with all of your strengths, all of your weaknesses, I want you to be you. I just want you to be the best version of you, says the that's the skill. If the rich man brings the poor man's carbon to the biktod, it's not just that he hasn't fulfilled his obligation. That's obvious, right? That's obvious. If you could bring a sheep and instead you bring fine flour, of course you're not going to be yay. Of course, you're not going to fulfill your obligation. But not only that, it's not even a carbon. It's it is unconsecrated material ultimately in the sacred precincts of the B mikdash. It's it's like it's like you're doing nothing. It's it's meaningless. Why? Because not only have you not fulfilled your obligation, but it's a betrayal of who and what you are. If you're the usher, if you're the rich guy, lean into it. That's who you are. Bring your carbon. Br be you. But the moment you're the usher and you try to act like the ani, it's not just that you haven't satisfied your obligation. It's a betrayal of the self. It's becoming someone else. And that's not what wants. He wants us to become the best version of ourselves. And by the way, you see this theme over and over in the para. How does parasra begin? with a very simple yet beautiful. Hashem says to Mosh, speak to tell them and tell them a lot of over here, right? And say to them, if a person will offer up m from you all write the same idea says the best carbon, the best carbon, the best offering you could bring me is not a sheep and it's not a goat and it's not a ram and it's not pigeons and it's not fine flour. The best carbon you could bring is mikm from you. Bring you become the best version of you. Self-actualize. Don't try to be someone else. Yes. Learn from other people. Who is wise? One who learns from every person. Absolutely. Learn from everyone and see traits and abilities and cohos. But don't become someone else. That's not the old in life. Hashem made you you. And Hashem wants you to become the best version of you. Hashem doesn't want you to transform yourself into someone else or become some other person. No. Adam. Shem says, "I want you to take you. You take you and refine it and uplift it and purify it and make it holy." If the rich man tries to become the poor man, it's not only that he hasn't fulfilled his obligation, but it's it's not even a carbon because it's a fundamental and complete betrayal of the self. Do not spend your life trying to make yourself in someone else's image, but rather refine your own image. Create the best version of you. Hashem knew what he was doing when he created you. Hashem knew what he was doing when he created me. There's no mistakes in the creation. There's no mistake in the model number, right? There's no mistake, you know, factory recall. Knew exactly what he was doing when he made each of us. He just needs us to strive to become the best version of ourselves to look inward. And what an overwhelming message as we go into Nissan Nissan is a time of incredible renewal, beautiful renewal. Nature renews. There's we make on blossoming trees again. Clalis renews that even in the midst of this war and overwhelming and heartbreaking losses, we know that we are on the cusp of something overwhelmingly incredible. We feel it. We feel we feel like Msiah surging forward. We feel gu forward. We feel we feel connected. We feel we just feel that we're seeing destiny unfold right in front of us. And part of that destiny, part of the destiny of the is the actualization of the destiny of the individual. Part of the actualization of cloud is the selfactualization of as of each of us as individuals. Hashem says, "Give me you. I don't want you to be someone else. I don't want the usher to be the and I don't want the to be the usher. I don't want the poor man to be the rich man. I don't want the rich man to be the poor man." Right? the the poor man the same way that the rich man can't bring the poor man's offering. The poor man doesn't have to take out a loan in order to be able to secure excuse me the more expensive carbon of the rich man. Rich man, you be the rich man. Poor man, you be the poor man. Everyone just be the best version of themselves and don't make yourself into someone else. And lastly, as we prepare for wants more than anything, what what's what's the mantra of this month of the mantra of a person is obligated to see himself as if he left Egypt. When we come to the s we come to P we're not simply reliving a historical event but rather again we're supposed to view ourselves as if we left Egypt. And perhaps that phrase could be understood a little bit differently. says you have to understand who you are. Who are who am I in my essence? What are my abilities? What are my cohos? And ultimately, how do I become the best version of me? Not make myself in someone else's image. How do I become the best version of memo? Who are you? And if you're able to discover who you are, if you're able to self-actualize, if you're able to truly discover your what makes you you and become the best version of you, then ultimately again, I'll be able to overcome my challenges. I'll be able to get out of my Egypt. I'll be able to overcome the things that hold me back and ultimately embrace the beautiful destiny that awaits me. Hashem does not need more than that. Hashem does not want me to become someone else. Hashem wants me to find the true me, maximize that identity, actualize that identity and then not only will I be successful, I'll be able to overcome my challenges. I'll be able to leave my Egypt and I'll be able to seize and embrace the beautiful braha and destiny which awaits us all. Wishing everyone a good a good kesh and a good ner of shabas and a beautiful shabis kesh.